Smile! Yahoo Photo Service Grows

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Smile! Yahoo Photo Service Grows

Yahoo said it has launched an online photo service with Target that this fall will enable consumers to order prints of their digital pictures for pickup at a Target store.

The service, Target Yahoo Photos, extends Yahoo's (YHOO) existing online photo site. The new service gives consumers unlimited photo storage and tools for sharing pictures through e-mail and by other means. Users will have the option of picking up their photos, printing them at home or having them delivered by mail.

Leading sites include Eastman Kodak's (EK) Ofoto service, privately held Shutterfly, and Snapfish, which was recently bought by printer and computer maker Hewlett-Packard (HPQ).

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Family matters: Yahoo may have resolved its dispute with a family wanting to get into the e-mail account of a Marine killed in Iraq, but legal experts say such conflicts are bound to be more common as e-mail becomes a crucial component of our lives.

John Ellsworth sought his son's e-mails after Lance Cpl. Justin Ellsworth was killed while inspecting a bomb in Iraq. But the father didn't know his son's password, and Yahoo said it couldn't break its confidentiality agreement with the Marine.

The family was granted access this week after a county probate judge ordered Yahoo to do so. Yahoo had said all along that it would comply with any such order.

Other e-mail service providers, including America Online, EarthLink (ELNK) and Microsoft (MSFT), which runs Hotmail, have provisions for transferring accounts upon proof of death and identity as next of kin. AOL says it gets dozens of such requests a day.

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Peace talks: More electronics companies have joined talks between Sony and Toshiba to develop a common format for next-generation DVDs and end a fierce battle, industry sources said.

Other key companies involved in the format war, including Panasonic and Philips, are also studying ways to end the three-year standoff that is threatening to stifle the industry's growth.

But sources close to the electronics companies said it was still early days, and that the discussions would take a long time, while adding that a positive outcome was not guaranteed.

The companies that contribute to the next DVD standard can expect hundreds of millions, or even billions, of dollars in royalty income over coming decades.

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Loud soft music: Elwood "Woody" Norris pointed a metal frequency emitter at one of perhaps 30 people who had come to see his invention. The emitter – an aluminum square – was hooked up by a wire to a CD player. Norris switched on the CD player.

Norris' HyperSonic Sound system works by sending a focused beam of sound above the range of human hearing. When it lands on you, it seems like sound is coming from inside your head.

Norris said the uses for the technology could come in handy – in cars, in the airport or at home.

Norris' HyperSonic Sound system has won him an award coveted by inventors – the $500,000 annual Lemelson-MIT Prize.